Based on its recent analysis of the North American automotive adhesives and sealants market, Frost & Sullivan has recognized Sika Automotive (Sika) with the 2018 North America Product Leadership Award for its range of automotive adhesives. The extensive portfolio is comprised of SikaPower, SikaSeal, SikaDamp, SikaBaffle, SikaFlex and SikaReinforcer, which improve vehicles’ stiffness, crash durability, assembly efficiency and fatigue performance. Sika’s portfolio also includes SikaForce, SikaMelt, SikaTherm, SikaSense and Sikasil, which help resolve a variety of assembly challenges. In addition to this spectrum of products, the company also offers outstanding value through its customer service, says Frost & Sullivan.
Sika’s vast line of bonding, sealing, damping and reinforcing products serve both automotive OEMs and component suppliers. Its application scope covers the installation of glass to vehicles, seam seals in the paint shop, crash, structural and assembly adhesives, reinforcement technologies, acoustic technology, dural and non-dural damping patches, additional adhesives and sealants for interior lamination, glass roof assembly and tailgate bonding.
“Sika offers value-added innovations focused on addressing specific customer needs, such as comfort and safety, while reducing weight, improving fuel efficiency and lowering emissions,” said Soundarya Gowrishankar, industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “Its solutions for lightweighting can help achieve up to 40 percent weight reduction in the car body-in-white while saving 400,000 tons of steel each year through SikaPower and SikaSeal. Globally, nearly 25 million vehicles per year are lighter, stronger and safer due to Sika’s BIW products. Additionally more than 50 percent of vehicles manufactured each year use Sika products.”
The company’s adhesives in the SikaPower product portfolio enable lighter-weight, high-performance structures, and help create a new generation of car body concepts, including strengths in multi-material bonding. Similarly, SikaSeal has a unique and special performance property that prevents bondline read through; the primary use of this product is for mastic and anti-flutter applications. The adhesive allows the usage of thinner metals, which can provide significant weight savings for a vehicle.
Sika’s versatile Sikaflex portfolio is consistently innovated and includes new products not only for glass bonding but also for general assembly. The diversification of the range is extensive and fulfills an ever-changing field of requirements; Ultra-High modulus materials satisfying rigid bondline requirements and Ultra-Low modulus materials providing unique read through property resolution.
Acknowledging the intensifying demand for vehicle safety, Sika launched and continues to innovate the SikaReinforcer, a heat-reactive material that combines with proprietary SikaStructure to reinforce vehicle body structures. It lowers noise vibration harshness, enhances local stiffness and improves crash performance while enabling overall weight reduction and potentially saving 50,000 tons of steel annually. Sika says it also strives to maximize comfort for vehicle users by blocking out noise using its SikaBaffle, a heat-reactive thermoplastic designed to seal body cavities, and damping tuned frequency vibrations with SikaDamp to eliminate structure-borne noise intrusion.
“Sika’s market and technology leadership is a result of aligning its remarkable capabilities and resources to provide competitive, tailored solutions that generate sustainable business value for its customers,” said Gowrishankar. “As the product range serves much deeper applications than vehicle assembly, Sika is well-positioned to make the most of upcoming trends in the automotive industry.”
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that develops a product with innovative features and functionality that is gaining rapid market acceptance. The award recognizes the quality of the solution and the customer value enhancements it enables.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.
